Thoughts on Science Fiction Magazines

I just got the latest issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF) in the mail. Due to rising postal costs, it will be coming out only 6 per year instead of 11, but these bi-monthly issues will be double sized. I no longer see these magazine at the newsstands and bookstores that I visit, its circulation is around 18,000 mostly from subscriptions. I don't know how new readers are going to find out about this magazine which is one of the best out there.

F&SF is the second oldest continuously published SF magazine out there, Analog is number one while Asimov's is third. And that pretty much is it for SF magazines. There are some small press ones out there, but they are harder to find than the three I mentioned. I remember back in 1975 you could reliably find five monthly SF magazines, now we are down to three.

These magazines used to serve as a well to get people interested in reading SF, and also allowed new writers a place to get started. I guess there are websites where people post their fiction, I don't know just is not the same as getting the latest issue of F&SF and seeing who has new stories this time around.

I started reading SF after discovering Marvel Comic's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. This was a black and white comic magazine that featured new SF stories and adaptations of classic stories. They also had prose features on the history of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and the SF magazines. Also would have a profile of the writer that had work adapted for that issue. I wish Marvel would bring back this publication, it was one of my favorites.

Lets hope that the SF magazine sales stabilize and that we can have many more years of reading enjoyment.